|
|
Central Africa: Prof. Wangari Maathai - 'The Congo Forest Has Not Received Much Attention as it Should'
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
INTERVIEW
5 September 2007
Posted to the web 5 September 2007
L.P.N.
Prof. Wangari Maathai unveils her strategy on sustainable forest management.
Of what importance is your visit to Cameroon and particularly to the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife?
We came to the Minister to share with him our concern about the Congo forest ecosystem. As you know, I am the Goodwill Ambassador of the Congo forest. I was appointed by ten Heads of State in this region and I wanted to brief the minister on how far we have come. And I particularly want to inform him that, recently, we were given 50 million pounds by the British government to help establish a fund to which many other countries might contribute to help us protect the Congo forest
Concretely, what will you be doing?
We want to assist government manage this forest more sustainably. We know we have harvested some of the timber but we want to ensure that this will not be at the expense of the forest. So we want to protect this standing forest. We want to ensure that when harvesting is done, it is done sustainably.
As a Goodwill Ambassador to the Congo Basin Forest, what assessment do you make of the way the forest is being managed by countries of this region?
Well, I think Cameroon is definitely in the fore front in demonstrating how we could be more responsible, not only to ourselves, but also to our future generations, so that we manage this forest, knowing very well that many generations to come will still depend on these natural resources. Cameroon's initiative on debt for swab in which it has set out a large part of the forest to be protected and is ensuring that wildlife management is done in a way that is sustainable, constitutes one of the numerous initiatives are deeply appreciated.
We wanted also to thank the president for having appointed us as Goodwill Ambassador and to inform him on the progress we have made. The minister will be the one to brief His Excellency The President on the initiatives we are making. We know that next week, Paul Martins who is going to be the co-chair of this fund will be here and so we are happy that the High Commissioner of Britain is hosting him and hope that he will also be able to see the minister and His Excellency, The President, in order to brief them on the progress we are making about the Trsut Fund.
Can we know what you have done since you were appointed Goodwill Ambassador to Congo Forest?
Well, I think I have done two major things: raising awareness on the importance of the Congo forest, not only to the countries of the Central African region, but also to the whole world and especially with respect to climate change. We need this major forest knowing that the Congo forest, second largest to the Amazon, the other part of the forest is in south-east Asia. For a long time the Congo forest has not received as much attention as it should, because it is extremely important.
|
But now that the climate change agenda is focal point of the world, people are paying more attention to the congo forest. I have tried to raise awareness about it, and I am particularly very happy therefore that the Prime Minister of Briatin, Gordon Brown, was among the first who responded to our appeal to support the governments in this region, and made this wonderful donation of 50 million pounds.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2007 Cameroon Tribune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
